Which is why I think this petition had poor focus, it brought up PJ and REM fanclubs but when it actually comes down to it, Duals gave us more exclusive material than PJ and REM does and much more than U2 has in the past.

It was a very weak portion of the petition and it was expressed as the "the line".

My line of thinking with that is that it's something not previously available on CD. Yeah, I could rip it and throw it on some CDRs, but that's not the same to me.

Not like Miss Sarajevo. Or When Love Comes to Town. Or The Wanderer. (i.e., tracks that have been available on multiple CD releases)

I guess I can see some people being fine with those releases for that reason, which boils down to receiving something they already have, but in new packaging. For me it wouldn't be a factor, though.

That said, I do think it wasn't the best idea to include tracks that are readily available on studio albums on the Duals disk, but not enough to cause this much of a kerfluffle.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Galeongirl

It's not Duals itself alone, it's the fact that Duals is yet another shitty fanclub gift. Like all the others.

From reading the comments at U2.com and atu2.com, I got the distinct impression that most people were pleased with the dvd rip cds, whereas I thought those were far more egregious than the Duals disc. At least the latter is a collection of songs, some rarer than others, admittedly, but in a whole new context.

I do not mind some of the things on Duals, but most I already have and some I don't care for. I thought Artificial Horizon was pretty cool, and liked Medium, Rare & Remastered. But the audiorips of Slane and ZooTv? I could've made those myself as I have both dvds..

__________________

Quote:

Originally Posted by GraceRyan

And if U2 EVER did Hawkmoon live....and the version from the Lovetown Tour, my uterus would leave my body and fling itself at Bono - for realz.

Don't worry baby, it's gonna be all right. Uncertainty can be a guiding light...

If it's true that the band really did put this together, it could be that they selected the tracks they felt best represented their collaborations, regardless of where the material came from. I can see them approaching it in that way. I know that this is more of a "straw that broke the camel's back" situation, but this tracklisting seems to be a bizarre thing to base a set of complaints on - it epitomizes what the kids these days refer to as a first world problem. I guess beyond getting presale codes, I really have no expectations of the fan club, all the other U2 sites I visit fulfill everything I need, and I very rarely ever go to U2.com.

The one complaint I have had over the years, and I feel that fans may have had some recourse had they pursued it, is when they brought out a new set of codes for subsequent legs of the tour, and demanded that people renew their subscriptions months in advance in order to get them. I thought that was beyond shoddy treatment, and a blatant money grab. If new codes are issued during your subscription period, you should get them without having to fork over twice. But oddly, that didn't seem to bother many people.

Yet you bring up the PJ fan club where you only get maybe one song that wasn't available per year. I just really think you missed the big picture with this argument.

Regardless of PJ, or REM, these u2 CDs are always promoted as exclusive offers... and (for the most part) they're not. To have them available on youtube or whatever is one thing, but straight off of u2 albums and singles? It annoyed a lot of people.
Also, you say Duals is better than the dvd rips, but a lot of people would rather get a cd of good quality audio of a u2 show than one half filled with the bands mainstream releases. You might think the Duals complaint is a weak argument, but it was the thing that sparked this whole petition, after all. It was duals that, after everything, made people think enough is enough, and that's what we want u2.com to know.

Kudos to Galeongirl for putting this together:
(and that bit about the audio section and all the missing music makes me more angry than anything else, I have told them for years and they won't fix it--that U2's website is not acurate is...well I am just so disapointed they can't get it right )

Fanfire:
Let’s start with Fanfire. Short summary: Fanfire sucks. The customer service is horrible and it happens WAY too often that people get the wrong product/size shipped and when they send it back it takes MONTHS to get the correct product, or they never get it. It also happened that Out of stock products weren’t taken off the site so you happily ordered something that you’d never ever receive and it would take ages until you get a notice about it.

Most of the subscription gifts are whack. The gift you pay 50$ for is always something we already have. U2communicationwith the audio from the Chicago DVD, U2ZooTvLivewith the audio of the ZooTv Sydney DVD, U2 live Elevation tour from Slane Castle audio+t-shirt, U2medium rare and remastered… It’s nice to have a backup of some audio previously only downloadable, so the last one’s not bad. But audio from a DVD we all already have? What a joke! And did anyone actually get their Slane t-shirt in the correct size? The remix album isn’t bad, but it’s mostly remixes that were already out. I’m still getting it for my presale code and the Crazy Tonight live remix tho. Just because I’m a sucker like that.
The one gift that nobody had, the one from 005, was a metal keychain plate that said U2.com member or something like it. Most members from the early days are still waiting for that one…

The sizing of the women’s t-shirts is also way off. Their XL is about the size of a medium in most stores. Pretty nice if you’re a bit larger, you won’t fit in the women’s tees and are forced to buy a men’s t-shirt!
When I was at the Paris show, I bought my tour t-shirts. For 30 euros. In Barcelona they were 35. Then, when I went to the Amsterdam and Dublin shows I was perplexed to find out the t-shirts were only 25 euros. On 5 t-shirts that would’ve saved me an entire t-shirt! Rip-off.
One of the t-shirts I bought was the Breathe t-shirt. A nice print and EDUN t-shirt, which is a bonus because it’s soft and good for the Africans and all that stuff. So I told this to a guy who wanted one but wasn’t sure if it was EDUN. He bought it later from the U2.com website. And received a regular, non EDUN t-shirt. Nice being consequent there fanfire.

Oh and can I add the shipping costs to Europe are outrageous? For a 100$ lithograph I had to pay 40$ shipping costs. That’s 40%! For a tube with a piece of paper in it that I already paid 100 dollars for. And may be just me, but aren’t U2 European? Why don’t they have their shop located in Ireland or the UK so they’re close to mainland Europe AND have easy access to the US? Why all the way over at the freakin’ WEST COAST of the US? Or why not one in Europe, one in the US(Preferably one more competent than FF, which shouldn’t be hard to find).

And then there was the lovely problem of the 2008-2009 renewal. There’s shitloads of trouble with the membership transferral, but that’s not Fanfire’s issue. Fanfire was supposed to mail everyone their new CD and ALSO to those who had renewed in November before the site was revamped. Which in some cases still hasn’t happened. They were rude and kept claiming people weren’t supposed to get the cd while an earlier email stated they were!
Here’s a short overview:

This is when u2.com prompted MOST people to renew. Right before their site went down for the transfer to the new website.

That is Baja, U2.com Zootopia’s main admin. Nice going there FF. No bad words about Baja here, she worked her ass off to help most people, and probably had to put up with shitloads of angry U2 fans. She helped lots of Interferencers, something which I cannot say about FF. Fan Fuckers.
Oh, and note the nice spelling errors there? Nice one guys, even Word corrects those out for you.

Early april:

Uuh, no. It was sent out randomly. I signed up the day before the Dublin III presale and got my cd April 29. When some horizon members hadn’t even gotten theirs yet. Other Boots and Breathe members got theirs first too. And some people got doubles of either Slane or this cd. And those people suddenly did not get the new cd. Even though it was promised!

A quick note to tell people that we have been informed that some of you are getting an email saying that the Medium CD is out of stock. This is the first we have heard of this, and Admin was informed immediately and are looking into it.

So, if you have gotten the email, please know we are working on the problem, and we shall do the our best to keep you updated and get your gift CD's to you.

In other news, those of you that have not receive the CD yet, please use the CONTACT US form in the HELP page, and pick the CD option from the drop down menu. Due to the number of people that are trying to send their info in today, please be patient and if it does not work, try again later today or tomorrow.

Thanks

Baja

Quote:

Note the date here. A grand TWO MONTHS after they started sending the cd. And fanfire is now fucking up even more. How much more fail can you get?

Then the next year, Artificial Horizon was announced in like… November? They started sending it out in the last 2 weeks of MARCH!

And to top it off, most subscribers received an email from Fanfire telling them their account is about to expire. While all those accounts had at least a year on them! Nice fail. (march 23)

Enough about Crapfire, more U2.com fails.
Zootopia:
U2.com’s lovely forum. Myself, I’m from Interference, the biggest and best U2 forum there is on the web. And a neatly organized forum with proper rules. Zootopia is nothing like that. It’s a chaos. The navigation is a drama, signatures are HUGE so pages take years to load.

U2.com itself:
The website is almost never up to date, the articles and most news bits are always late. Usually plenty of other sites have already picked up on something and U2.com is still in the blue. Also; the benefit of a premium membership? According to U2.com:
"on line tour coverage for subscribers includes virtual access all areas when the band are on the road: exclusive photography, reports and video from the show.."
Well, wow. That’s nothing you can’t find elsewhere, and they have only a few pics up every time. When I want photos or videos, Interference and U2start/Youtube are a much safer bet. And reports? I pay to read someone else’s opinion of a show? Whoop tee doo.
A quote from U2 fan Phommel, in reply to the above quote from U2.com:
“All these info I can find it everywhere and better on u2gigs, atu2, interference, u2tour.de, youtube, u2log etc. The website is never the first in announcing U2 related news, they show videos that are available everywhere, they publish wrong and incomplete setlists, etc, etc. Never an exclusive in-depth u2.com member exclusive interview or anything like that. Why is the band not communicating to their fans via what is supposed to be their fanclub/site? The only thing that is really appreciated (besides the access to presales) is the contribution of Willie Williams.”All U2.Com Discussion HERE "Artificial Horizon" Update pt 2
He’s hitting the nail right on the head. What exactly are we getting for our money? Sure the presale code is nice, but to pay 50$ for the possibility of buying four tickets?

And speaking of premium member benefits. They provide you with ‘all U2’s CDs up for streaming’: The Sound&Vision section of the website. This should be the part where I would actually say something positive that they have all tracks up for streaming…. Yeah, I wish I could. It’s a bloody disgrace. Let’s make a list of everything that is messed up that could’ve been easily prevented.
-Boy’s track order is completely fucked up, the image you get when you listen to Boy is the Joshua Tree.
-War suddenly goes without its major single New Year’s Day and the epically awesome Like A Song…
-UABRS suddenly has a Best of 1980-90 image instead of Red Rocks. And it misses 11 O’ Clock Tick Tock, The Electric Co. and New Year’s Day.
-The Joshua Tree misses I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For(A SINGLE!) and In God’s Country.
- Rattle And Hum’s tracklisting is fucked up, lacks Van Diemen’s Land and again ISHFWILF.(Image didn’t load here)
-Achtung Baby does not open AT ALL!!!! You can click all you like, it does nothing.
- PoP lacks Discothéque, the first single!! And Please is suddenly named Please --.
- ATYCLB misses Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of, again a single. And Kite is named Kite _.
- HTDAAB has Love and Peace on 3rd spot instead of 4th, it lacks City of Blinding Lights, the BIGGEST single and Fast Cars. Oh and playing LAPOE crashes Bomb.

That leaves October, The Unforgettable Fire, Zooropa and NLOTH for albums that are actually correct. That’s 4 out of 13 albums they’re streaming that are the actual complete albums. Wtf U2.com?

- 2005-07-09 - Paris: The printed setlist included Bad after ISHFWILF but it was not played; nonetheless, U2.com accidentally ran a concert review after the show claiming in the headline that Bad was played(and how special it was). This article was subsequently amended.(This Quote’s shamelessly stolen off U2gigs.com because I couldn’t remember the exact gig, text in parentheses added by me.)

-
2009-10
- Renewal to New flashy website/membership2008-2009 transfer fail.
Getting the new site up took HOURS and ALL Zooropa content was lost(Not that anyone would want to be remembered about their awful forum, but still, how hard is it to back up posts, user data and pm’s?). It was also right before NLOTH came out. Great timing guys! And people with a dot or space in their username suddenly had an invalid character and couldn’t login anymore! LOTS of people had problems, the webmail wasn’t working and most problems were fixed days later, some even weeks. And even more brilliant? The account info for those who DID renew in November/December before the site went up, mostly Horizon members who had been a member since Propaganda, was lost. And what did they do to fix it? Post a message in the FORUMS. Yes, exactly, the forums you can’t get in if you don’t have an account. There was no statement on the main website, no redirection who to email, nothing. Most had to find out via other forums or through making a new account. At least the Zoo Admins and tech guys tried their hardest to fix everything, even with fanfire failing more and more and more.
On the positive site, most accounts were fixed and got their Horizon status back before the presales started.

With the presale not everything went right with the codes. People who renewed didn’t get a code because the code generator was ‘broken’. This was the night before a presale and brought a LOT of unnecessary stress onto people who wanted tickets for the show that went on sale the next day. Then, people who had legit codes suddenly got the red THIS CODE HAS BEEN USED message on their account. Another wonky error that took a while to get fixed. Oh and the presale emails. Some emails were sent a day after the actual presale it was about. And then there’s this: From youtube I got a message from U2Official(their official youtube account) that they would be webcasting the Rosebowl concert LIVE at 8pm, october 25. That’s great guys, but eh, you sent me that message on october 30.All U2.Com Discussion HERE "Artificial Horizon" Update pt 2

The 2009-2010 renew gift:

U2 > Sign In
StarTing at the Sun? Twice? That’s pretty sad. And Get Your Boots On? How hard is it to copy-past a SONG TITLE correctly? *facepalm*
Oh and note the date they say. Late January. It’s now February as I write this, and no sign of any shipped discs anywhere on the planet. Took till late march.

- 2009-08-18 Glasgow: U2.com's report on this show claimed that Mysterious Ways was played after One; it was not played at all. This error was finally corrected roughly a day later. (Quote from u2gigs.com again)
(After I emailed them btw. It took them over a day actually to take it out. I emailed the morning after the gig, it was fixed the next morning.)
- 360 Chicago Lithograph on U2.com is NOT from Chicago, but from 10-06-09 Atlanta. Website claims it is, in fact, from Chicago(September 12). Of course, this is another fanfire issue. There’s no big problem with a lithograph being from a wrong date, but the fact that they are SO proud to claim it’s from Chicago is just wrong. A fan specifically bought it(not to mention they cost 100$, yes, that is ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS) because it was her first U2 concert ever and it was very special to her. Then she realized by Edge’s clothes that it could have never been taken that night. After a bit of comparing the background logos and outfits, the fans found out it was from the show in Atlanta. Fanfire has been contacted about this, but nothing has changed. Now the fan is stuck with a not-so-special Lithograph that cost her 100$. She put up her thread on Interference on February 8, 1 am my time. Another member sent a complaint to U2.com by 3pm. It has been fixed on February 9, 8pm. So it takes a day to fix a big mistake. And no word about their mistake, no apology, nothing.
.
Screenshot: http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/1...comfailure.jpg
Complete story: U2.com’s Chicago Lithograph Isn’t From Chicago - @U2 Blog

2010-02-16: Presale SLC:

Uh, no. Horizon 10 am, Breathe should be 3pm and Magnificent too. These minor mistakes are what makes U2.com fail so hard. There's FAR too many for them, and it's SO easy to doublecheck things.